Hitting the High Notes

From The Collegian - February 3, 2015

Editor’s note: The Collegian reviewed a rehearsal of the Ransom Notes’ performance in the Great Lakes quarterfinal of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella.

A half-dozen students, many of them in stocking feet, sprawled on top of each other in the center of the Rosse Hall stage around 9 p.m. last Tuesday night. The members of the a cappella group Ransom Notes were enjoying a break from rehearsing for the Great Lakes quarterfinal of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA). The Notes were one of 10 groups slated to participate in the regional event, held last Saturday in Bowling Green, Ohio.

“It’s exciting because we get to perform outside of Kenyon to a huge audience, with really impressive sound and lighting equipment,” Emma Brown ’17, the group’s music director, said.

In addition to adjusting to the high-tech nature of the event, groups also incorporated choreography into their sets. The Notes had been performing their four-song set — a mash-up of “Over the Rainbow” (“The Wizard of Oz”), “Halo” (Beyoncé), “Fly Me to the Moon” (Frank Sinatra), and “E.T.” (Katy Perry) — for years, but were just now learning an accompanying dance routine.

“Everything gets harder when you introduce choreography,” Peter Birren ’15, co-president of the group, said. “We’ve sung these parts so many times that when we’re performing, we’re concentrating on what steps we’re doing.” Among those steps were the Charleston, which Birren borrowed from his musical theater experience, and the jazz square, a smooth motion involving repeated foot crossovers.

The blend and build of the singers’ voices, together with their dynamic choreography, drove the group’s roughly 10-minute set at their Tuesday-night rehearsal.

“I am just going to have fun, and I think that’s the mindset we are going into it with,” James Wojtal ’18, one of six new members this year, said of the competition. “It’d be nice to win, but I don’t think that’s the first thing on everyone’s mind.”

Read the Collegian’s full review from Gabe Brison-Trezise ’16 with reporting from Lauren Katz ’15.